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Carper wants lasting road fund plan

Carper’s amendment would keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent through December, pressing lawmakers to find a long-term solution like the federal gas tax Carper supports in this Congress rather than the next.
(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

Story Highlights

Carper is working to win votes from most Democrats and a handful of Republicans on the Senate floor.

His amendment would keep the fund solvent through December, and pressure lawmakers to come up with long-term solution by then

Last year, the Delaware Democrat voted against a compromise of tax increases and spending cuts aimed at avoiding the "fiscal cliff" – a compromise supported by most senators – because it postponed consideration of a "grand bargain" on fiscal issues.

Now, Carper is fighting a funding plan for highway projects for a similar reason – it would allow lawmakers to punt on their responsibility to fund a long-term transportation bill until next year.

When the full Senate takes up the bill, likely next week, he'll propose an amendment he says would force Congress to come up with a long-term transportation strategy before Christmas.

"The idea there is to create a dynamic that will compel the Congress to do something that we are oftentimes loathe to do, and that is to do something that's hard, something that's difficult, but something that we know in our hearts is the right thing to do," Carper said.

The Highway Trust Fund, which relies mostly on the federal gas tax to finance federal transportation projects, is expected to become insolvent this summer without congressional action. Many lawmakers agree that a short-term funding "patch" is needed so the federal government can meet commitments to reimburse states for transportation projects.

The question is how long the patch should last.

The White House, concerned about transportation funding running out and putting jobs at risk this summer, has endorsed a Republican House-passed plan that would transfer about $11 billion – mostly from general revenue – to fund the program short-term. An administration statement says Congress should work to pass a long-term transportation bill "well before" the patch expires on May 31.

But Carper says "we're fooling ourselves" to believe Congress will make difficult choices this year without an earlier deadline. Congress has approved 11 short-term extensions in the Highway Trust Fund in the last five years, and the House measure would perpetuate that cycle, he said. That approach is inefficient, expensive and creates uncertainty that hurts states' ability to plan for long-term projects, he said.

Carper's goal is to fund the projects included in a six-year transportation authorization bill that the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed in May. He chairs the committee's Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee and is a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which is responsible for funding the measure.

His amendment would keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent through December, putting pressure on lawmakers to come up with long-term solution – such as an increase in the federal gas tax, which Carper supports – in this Congress rather than the next. He has said he would oppose the House-passed extension on the Senate floor.

Carper has taken similarly hard positions in the past on legislation that he viewed as postponing long-term solutions. A veteran, he was one of three senators in February who opposed repealing cuts to some military pensions, saying the legislation undermined progress on deficit reduction.

In January 2013, he was among eight senators who voted against the fiscal cliff compromise negotiated by Delaware's former senior senator, Vice President Joe Biden. That deal increased taxes on households earning more than $450,000 a year, extended unemployment benefits and delayed massive, automatic spending cuts for two months.

Carper said the deal walked away from the chance to enact meaningful entitlement and tax reform.

"That was not a fun vote to cast, but it was the right vote to cast," he said. "I have no regrets."

On July 10, Carper was the lone no vote during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the Highway Trust Fund compromise. At that hearing, he offered his amendment to adjust the timeline, telling colleagues, "We can put pressure on us to do the job that we need to do." But the amendment failed, 10-14.

Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the committee's top-ranking Republican, said the Senate needs "breathing room" to come up with the best deal, and imposing an "artificial deadline" isn't a good idea.

"We all share the same goal," he said. "We want to get to a long-term solution."

If lawmakers postpone long-term action until next year, the path forward for transportation legislation gets complicated. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee would have to pass a new bill authorizing long-term transportation projects. And it's possible that task – as well as a funding measure – would fall to new leaders if Republicans take control of the Senate after the November elections.

A transportation bill also would compete with other urgent issues early next year, including the extension of the nation's debt ceiling.

"If work is not completed on a long-term bill by the time Congress adjourns the whole process – (in) both the House and Senate – we'll have to start all over," said Jack Basso, a former Transportation Department official and now an adviser on transportation finance issues. "And that can take an extended period of time to actually accomplish."

The American Trucking Associations released a statement Wednesday backing the Carper plan.

Carper said Senate Finance Committee leaders gave him only 30 minutes warning that he'd be allowed to offer his amendment, and he didn't have time to win over other committee members. Still, the measure won support from three Republicans and seven Democrats.

Carper said he's now working to win votes from most Democrats and a handful of Republicans on the Senate floor. He will introduce his amendment measure with Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee. It will be one of only four amendments considered.

"I think I have a responsibility to show some leadership," he said. "I'm trying to do that."

Contact Nicole Gaudiano at ngaudiano@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ngaudiano.